1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, a method of controlling the image forming apparatus, and a storage medium, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus that is capable of displaying real size preview in which an image is displayed in the same size as the image to be formed on a recording medium, a method of controlling the image forming apparatus, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
From an viewpoint of environmental protection, paperless work has been promoted e.g. in offices. In image forming apparatuses, such as a multifunction peripheral, a preview function is provided in order to reduce print errors. As one of the above-mentioned preview function, there has been proposed a technique in which characters and graphics included in an image to be printed are displayed in the same size as the image to be actually printed on a sheet for user confirmation (see e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-166763). The above-mentioned preview function is hereinafter referred to as “real size preview”.
According to this technique, it is possible to confirm the size of characters and graphics before printing, and hence it is possible to prevent a print error from occurring due to a reason that “the characters and graphics on the printed image are not printed in the intended size”.
However, as a result of confirmation of the size of characters and graphics using real size preview, if the characters and graphics are not of the desired size, to print the image in the desired size, the user is required to perform the following troublesome operations: First, the user closes a preview screen. Next, the user opens a screen for setting printing magnification, and sets the printing magnification. Then, the user opens the preview screen again to confirm the size of characters and graphics by real size preview.
Further, after performing the above-mentioned operations, as a result of confirmation of the print image, the user sometimes recognizes that the size of a sheet or the page aggregation (imposition) is not properly set. Examples of improper sheet size and page aggregation include a case where the contents to be printed are cut because the size of the sheet is too small relative to the printing magnification, or a case where a margin area is unnecessarily large.
In this case, it is necessary to perform the following troublesome additional operations: First, the user closes the preview screen. Next, the user opens screens for setting sheet selection and page aggregation, and makes these settings. Then, the user opens the preview screen again to confirm the print image.